When bandwidth limits are exceeded, traditional byte-by-byte bandwidth management systems prolong connections, physically delaying each information packet on a packet-by-packet basis. In these systems, if a server tries to send through 100 packets, and that causes it to be over the bandwidth limit, but the intended client never receives the packets, they are nevertheless delayed on the basis that they are using too much data. Most traditional bandwidth management systems are ignorant to the nature of the server or the client. They are placed between the server and the client, but cannot determine what the client received or did not receive. In a traditional byte-by-byte system that limits bandwidth for example to 1/10th the rate that the network supports, a 20K byte transmission requires the server to hold the connection open 10 times longer than if no bandwidth limiting were in place.